Sunday, August 28, 2011

Roller Derby Stagette!

I was invited to a stagette last weekend. These were my instructions in the invite: The theme is roller derby (fishnets, short shorts, knee high socks) and the colours are black, white, and pink. I thought, awesome! I love stagettes! Especially the ones where you get to dress up, cuz that means I get to make a new outfit!

Burda 8179

I've had a hankering to try out this pattern for a while. I figured not a lot of people would be wearing white shorts, so I copied view B almost exactly, except for the overall bib. I'll have to try that some other time, cuz I love overalls!

I was almost thinking about making these shorts a bit longer, but I thought, aw heck, it's just a stagette! Besides, I absolutely love how the back pockets go right into the hem. So, I decided to sew them as is.

I cut a straight size 18. For reference, these shorts have about 2" of ease in the hips. They fit perfectly! Burda does it again!

For fun, I used 2 strands of slinky, shiny hot pink thread for my topstitching. I love me some topstitching!

Here is my test fit before the buttons and the hem. The back hem of this pattern was too short by 1/2". The side seams, inseam, and the pocket placement lines didn't match up. I just moved the pocket up, and sewed the seams without adjusting. I ended up cutting off the extra 1/2" from the front, and I hemmed them 1".

I managed to find 6 funky white buttons in the button jar my mom gave me. Score! I decided to be safe and sew the buttons and buttonholes with white thread. When I make these again, I'll use contrasting thread.

Here are the finished shorts. They really are very short, but you know what? I like them! My problem with short shorts is that they tend to ride up. These ones are so short, that they just kinda stay there. Also, the only fitting issue I have is that the center front needs to be cut down by at least 1/2". Again, this is a normal alteration for me.

These shorts took me exactly 4 hours to make. It seems like a lot for such a small garment, but there are a lot of nice details on them. I'm sure it wouldn't take any more time to make longer capris or pants. It usually takes me about 6 hours to make pants, so this is pretty good!

I love the buttons. And look at that fit! I love these! They're so awesome!

I love the back pockets. I guess I love anything with a different design element. Plus, they're so easy to topstitch! You don't have to worry about getting your corners straight, cuz there are no corners!

I don't think they look terribly short. Maybe it's because they fit and they're not skin tight, but as you can see here, heck yes, they're short! I think that inseam is about 1 1/2". Surprisingly, I don't mind! And I like the fake fly topstitching on the front.

Wouldn't these be so boring if they didn't have contrasting topstitching? I can't wait to make more shorts, capris, and pants out of this pattern. I really like the button plackets. It's kinda nice not to have to fiddle with a fly zipper.

To finish off my outfit, I made a tank top. I picked out some awesome plaid spandex from the dancewear section at Davey Fabrics. I love everything about this! It was $18/m, so I measured exactly and figured I only needed 0.7m. Saved me $5!

I used my tailored racer back tank top pattern from Simplicity 5000. I made a few adjustments. I added an inch to each strap to drop the neckline and bust down a bit, I shortened the torso an inch below the bust, and I added an inch to the hip. I whipped this thing together in 38 minutes, because I was running out of time. I didn't hem it or finish the armholes and neckline. I figured nobody would notice, and they didn't.

I sewed this whole outfit the day of the stagette. I snapped this picture right before I dashed out of the house. I stopped at an accessories store on my way to the stagette.

And here she is in all her glory! All I need now are knee pads, elbow pads, a helmet, and some rollerskates!

My roller derby name is THE SCREAMSTRESS! I didn't even think it up myself, it was one of the other girls! Fantastic, hey?

The bride, Amy, is on a roller derby team, hence the theme. She's wearing my stagette veil! It's been passed on a few times, and I'm happy to say that Amy finally managed to break it! It's had a good life. :)

The bride and bridesmaids made these incredible t-shirts. They screen printed Amy's roller derby picture on the front, then they spray-painted them with hot pink and black.

This is the coolest part. They wrote out their roller derby names on the back in masking tape and sprayed over them. I love how they turned out! Their names were: BRIDE ZILLA, JULIE JAW BREAKER, KATIE KARNAGE, ALIKATRAZ, and ANITA NOTHER SHOT! I love it!!!

We went to a big country bar later that night and had a blast on the dance floor. This is all of us dancing on the speakers. All the white we were wearing looked great under the black lights!

A few of us also got to ride the mechanical bull! I thought I would do really good, but I only managed to stay on for 8 seconds! I guess that's appropriate, right? So much fun!!!

About Me

I'm proud to say that I'm a seamstress. My mom taught me to sew when I was 12, and it took me a couple of years to catch the sewing bug. I think being tall had a lot to do with it, because I couldn't find clothes that fit. I had a lot of fun making pants in all kinds of bright colours. After high school, I decided I wanted to go to school and take a Fashion Design course. I took 2 years of Fashion Production at Olds College.
I worked with my dad at his upholstery shop for 6 1/2 years. I recently found an upholstery job 10 minutes from home. I absolutely love my job!
I've also put my sewing business on hiatus, and am hoping to enjoy some much-needed selfish sewing.
Welcome to my blog! I'm thrilled to be able to share many of my favorite projects with you. Enjoy!